“I’m pretty old school,” Petty said Saturday in the Sprint Cup garage. “I believe in not being particularly being political correct.

“To be political correct, I’d have to lie to myself, and I’m not going to do it. … What I said is what I said, and that is what I believe.”

The seven-time Cup champion and inaugural inductee into the NASCAR Hall of Fame, Petty had made the comment at a motorsports expo in Canada and included that he was happy Patrick, who has one top-10 finish in 46 Cup starts, was bringing attention to the sport as part of a "female deal" that was driving her sponsorship.

“What’s unfair is the sexist part,” Petty said. “If her name had been Danny, nobody would have said anything about it. It was definitely not sexist.

“I’ve been married 55 years to the same woman. I’m not sexist. I love women.”

Patrick, entering her second full season of Cup racing at Stewart-Haas Racing, shrugged off the comments Thursday.

“People have said things in the past and they’re going to say things in the future,” Patrick said. “I still say the same thing: Everyone is entitled to their own opinion.

“People are going to judge what he said, whether they judge it well or not, and I’m just not going to.”

And Petty indicated he plans to keep giving his opinions.

“There was nothing going on in NASCAR racing — nobody was talking about Daytona, nobody was talking about nothing,” Petty said. “Look at all the publicity NASCAR got and she got just for one little comment.”